Poetry Slam!: "Song: Go and catch a falling star" by John Donne

John Donne's "Song: Go and catch a falling star" is a fantastical quest, full of impossible sights and mystical wonders and a traveler who may not find what he is looking for (etext found here).

Here are links to our lists for other poems by John Donne: "The Canonization", "The Flea", "A Valediction Forbidding Mourning", "Death, be not proud", "The Sun Rising"
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. mandrake
    a plant with purple flowers, yellow fruits and a forked root
    Go and catch a falling star,
    Get with child a mandrake root.
    The most important word in the definition is "magical" since it sets up the poem's focus on unreal things, which include the possibility of getting a plant root pregnant and finding an honest woman.
  2. cleft
    a split or indentation in something
    Tell me where all past years are,
    Or who cleft the devil's foot
    The definition is for "cleft" as a noun, but the example sentence is using "cleft" as the past tense of the verb "cleave". Finding answers about the devil's body is as magically unreal as finding lost time, catching a falling star, getting a mandrake root pregnant, and finding an honest woman. Note how the poem covers heaven, earth, and hell in its images.
  3. envy
    a desire to have something that is possessed by another
    Teach me to hear mermaids singing,
    Or to keep off envy's stinging,
    The singing of mermaids is another magically unreal thing. This image connects more closely to the idea of a dishonest woman: according to legends, mermaids try to catch sailors with their beautiful songs, but they do so only to lead them to their deaths, which would be more painful than simply envying someone who can hear a mermaid sing or who has temporary access to a beautiful woman.
  4. sting
    a mental pain or distress
    Teach me to hear mermaids singing,
    Or to keep off envy's stinging,
  5. advance
    contribute to the progress or growth of
    And find
    What wind
    Serves to advance an honest mind.
    Notice how the lines advance ("move forward"): "find," "wind," and "mind" look like they all should rhyme but don't, almost as if Donne were emphasizing his point about dishonesty with his inclusion of both true rhymes and sight rhymes (which would be revealed as false when spoken aloud).
  6. invisible
    impossible or nearly impossible to see
    If thou be'st born to strange sights,
    Things invisible to see,
  7. strange
    unusual or out of the ordinary
    Thou, when thou return'st, wilt tell me,
    All strange wonders that befell thee,
  8. wonder
    something that causes feelings of amazement
    Thou, when thou return'st, wilt tell me,
    All strange wonders that befell thee,
  9. befall
    become of; happen to
    Thou, when thou return'st, wilt tell me,
    All strange wonders that befell thee,
  10. swear
    to declare or affirm solemnly and formally as true
    And swear,
    No where
    Lives a woman true, and fair.
  11. fair
    attractively feminine
    And swear,
    No where
    Lives a woman true, and fair.
    "Fair" could also mean "in conformity with rules and without fraud or cheating" which would support the poem's focus on honesty. But the chosen definition connects to a joke that poets of Donne's time often made: a woman can be honest, if she's ugly, but honesty and beauty can never exist at the same time in one woman.
  12. pilgrimage
    a journey to a sacred place
    If thou find'st one, let me know,
    Such a pilgrimage were sweet;
Created on Thu Jun 06 14:36:43 EDT 2013 (updated Wed Nov 29 10:26:48 EST 2017)

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